Car Trouble
by badly-knitted
Summary: Some weird is going on with Dee's car. Thankfully Ryo is brave enough to investigate! Set after the manga and written for fic promptly.


**Title:** Car Trouble

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Ryo, Dee.

 **Rating:** PG

 **Setting:** After the manga.

 **Summary:** Some weird is going on with Dee's car.

 **Word Count:** 962

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'FAKE, Dee/Ryo, Dee thinks his car is haunted,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

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Ryo was just getting Bikky off to school when his phone rang; it was Dee.

"Hey, babe."

"Hey yourself. What's up?"

"Nothin' major, I was just hopin' you could maybe swing by and give me a ride in to work."

"Sure, no problem. Having car trouble?"

"Uh, yeah, you could say that."

Ryo checked his watch. "I'll be there in about half an hour, okay?"

"That'd be great. Thanks, babe, see you in a bit." Dee hung up without a goodbye.

Shaking his head, Ryo turned off his phone and returned it to his pocket. Dee calling him for a lift; that was a first. Usually it was the other way around.

Just under thirty minutes later, Ryo pulled up in front of Dee's building to find his partner already outside, leaning on the wall, waiting for him. Ryo had half expected to find him with the Charger's hood up, bent over the engine, trying to work out what was wrong, but the car sat at the curb, looking perfectly fine.

Pushing away from the wall, Dee strode across the sidewalk, opened the passenger side door and jumped in, leaning across for a quick kiss before fastening his seat belt. "Okay, let's go! Don't wanna be late for work."

Ryo checked for traffic and pulled away. "So what's the problem with your car?" He was no mechanic, but like Dee he knew the basics.

Dee didn't answer; he just stared out the side window.

"Dee?" Ryo briefly rested his hand on his partner's arm.

A gusty sigh came from the other man. "It's haunted," he muttered.

"What?" It was almost more of a laugh than a word.

An accusing glare was turned Ryo's way. "See, that's why I didn't wanna tell you; I knew you'd react like that! I know you don't believe in ghosts, but I do, and it's not funny. My car is haunted and I don't know what to do about it."

"Sorry." Ryo wiped the grin off his face and tried to be serious. Dee looked… well, spooked was the only description that fit.

Dee was still talking. "I mean, I could call Father Mackey, find out if he knows of any exorcists who do cars, but I'm not sure Holy water would do the upholstery much good…"

Ryo cut him off. "What makes you think your car's haunted?"

"You mean aside from the weird noises inside it and the stuff in the backseat moving all by itself?" Dee asked, shuddering. "It was all I could do to drive it home last night. If I didn't like that car so damned much I would'a just left it by the side of the road and walked away."

"When we get off work, I'll take a look at your car," Ryo promised his lover. "There has to be a logical explanation."

"There is," Dee insisted. "I told you, it's haunted. You'll see."

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OoOoOoO

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By the time they got off work it was already dark. Dee was more than a little dubious about ghost hunting at night, but Ryo told him if he was that scared he could just go indoors and leave checking the car to him.

"I can't do that! What if the ghost attacks you, or possesses you, or something?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Dee, just give me your keys."

Dee handed them over reluctantly and stood back while Ryo unlocked the car and climbed inside, a powerful flashlight in one hand. "Be careful."

"I'm always careful. Now, where did you say these noises were coming from?"

"The back seat." Dee took a cautious step closer, aiming his own flashlight so it illuminated that part of the car. There were a couple of old newspapers back there, along with an empty pizza box from lunch the day before, a paper grocery bag, and a jacket Dee had tossed in the back the previous week when he'd gotten too hot and since then kept forgetting to take indoors.

Ryo picked up the pizza box, checked it was empty, and passed it out to Dee, who had to move even closer to the car to take it. Then as he reached to pick up the jacket, there was a rustling noise and the grocery bag started to move by itself. Ryo jerked his hand back, eyebrows raised, staring as the bag shuffled a few inches along the seat and then stopped.

"See? I told you, but you didn't believe me!"

"I said I didn't believe your car was haunted, not that I thought you were imagining things," Ryo corrected. Leaning forward again, he snatched at the bag and quickly backed out of the car with it, upending it a few feet away on the sidewalk. Something small fell out amid a shower of chewed-up newspaper and fabric, and shot away into the darkness. Ryo laughed. "See? Not a ghost; just a chipmunk. It must have slipped into the car when we were investigating the double homicide in the park yesterday evening. I did say you shouldn't leave the window open."

Dee flushed, embarrassed. "Okay, you were right; it wasn't a ghost. But it might have been."

Ryo fetched the rest of the items from the back seat, just to be sure the chipmunk hadn't had a friend back there, but aside from the newspapers and Dee's jacket, all of which were showing evidence of busy rodent teeth, there was no sign of anything else.

"All safe to use now," Ryo assured him.

"Yeah, thanks." Dee examined the chewed hem of his jacket and stuck his finger through a ragged hole in the sleeve. "Damned chipmunk! It ruined my jacket!" He glared in the direction the chipmunk had gone. "You know, I think I might almost have preferred a ghost."

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The End


End file.
